


Q's Mug Collection

by soufflegirl91



Series: Souffle's 007 Fest 2020 Fancreations [20]
Category: James Bond (Craig movies)
Genre: Gen, Q doesn't just own a scrabble mug you know, he owns other mugs too, headcanons, moving this over from tumblr, you've probably already read it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:48:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25218007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soufflegirl91/pseuds/soufflegirl91
Summary: A series of headcanons about all of the different mugs Q uses at work. It's not just scrabble.
Series: Souffle's 007 Fest 2020 Fancreations [20]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1809892
Comments: 1
Kudos: 32
Collections: 007 Fest Fancreations





	Q's Mug Collection

**Author's Note:**

> These have all already been posted on Tumblr separately, I'm just bringing them together here so that I don't lose them :)

**_#1 - Have You Tried Turning it Off and On Again?_ **

Q had never  _ actually _ worked in tech support. Not in the IT helpdesk kind of way, at least. But he’d been recruited into government intelligence while he was working on his PhD, and he couldn’t exactly tell people the details of his job. His mum knew he was a civil servant, and that he made use of his degree. So who was  _ he _ to correct her, if she thought he was some sort of senior IT technician? 

Also, he really did appreciate the reference. He might not be in tech support, but for some of the double-ohs, it really was like talking to children. For every Bond, capable of hacking into his boss’s laptop ( _ before _ Q got hold of the user profiles and made them as secure as he could) there was a 001 who could barely figure out how to operate the camera on his mobile phone.

-

**_#2 - Th’ Milk of Human Kindness… and Two Sugars_ **

It was common knowledge that Q was a huge Shakespeare nerd. One only needed to spend a few hours around him to realise that his knowledge of Shakespearean insults was second to none. Whether he was describing 003 as “not so much brain as ear-wax” for removing his earpiece mid-gunfight, or calling a particularly gnarly piece of code a “lump of foul deformity”, anyone who spent very much time in Q branch soon learned a veritable dictionary of creative insults. 

What was  _ not _ common knowledge was that Q loved to go to the theatre in his downtime. Whenever there was something on that caught his eye, he tried to find at least one night off during the run so that he could go and see it. And he would  _ always _ try to go and see any productions of Macbeth. One memorable year, that had meant going to the National, the Barbican  _ and  _ the Globe within two months. He wasn’t usually one for theatre merchandise, but when he’d seen this mug in the National Theatre bookshop, he just  _ had _ to have it. 

And if he had four other Shakespeare mugs at home, well, who was to know but him?

… He might consider bringing the list of deaths one in for the next management meeting, though.

-

**_#3 - They’re There for Their Afternoon Tea_ **

Q  _ hated _ paperwork. Everybody knew that Q hated paperwork. He hated having to account for every single penny wasted when a double-oh decided to crush their earpiece in a fit of pique, but even more than that, he hated having to read and sign off on error-riddled reports. Q was a fastidious man, as much in his appearance and his work as in his spelling and grammar. 

And if he had to read something like  _ “The bad guy decided to tell me they’re plan”  _ ONE MORE TIME...Well. He didn’t know  _ what _ he would do, but it certainly wouldn’t be enjoyable for 005, that was for sure. 

He had even reached the point where he’d designed a better version of spell check that wouldn’t let the agents even  _ send _ their reports to him until they’d fixed their own errors. It didn’t actually tell them  _ how _ to fix them, though, just told them where the mistake was and forced them to figure out how to correct it for themselves. It seemed to be working for most of the agents. For 005, though, it now meant his mission reports took almost as long to write as the actual mission itself. 

The mug had actually been a Secret Santa gift. Q had resisted the urge to check the CCTV to find out who it was from, but he was pretty sure it  _ wasn’t _ 005\. 

-

**_#4 - 42_ **

This one, Q had found in a charity shop in uni. It had moved with him from job to job, allowing him to secretly judge his colleagues by who understood the reference and who didn’t. There were always a few surprises, on either side of the equation. 

_ “Life, the universe, and everything?” _

_ “Hmm?” Q looked up from the circuit board he’d been soldering to see Bond holding out his 42 mug, pleasingly full of hot Earl Grey. Q took it gratefully. “Oh. I’m surprised you got that reference, actually.” _

_ “I always know where my towel is, Q,” Bond replied with a smile. _

Q really hoped he managed to pick Bond for Secret Santa this year. He had his eye on the perfect gift.

-

**_#5 - Scrabble Q10_ **

It  _ had  _ been a joke _. _ The first Christmas after he’d been made R, he’d come into work and found the box on his desk with a card from old Boothroyd.

_ I plan on keeping these shoes for a while longer, so you’ll have to wait a bit to fill those. In the meantime, why not fill this, instead.  _

The joke, because both of them knew that while there were rumours going around about the higher-ups trying to replace both M and Q with younger models, R had been in no rush to take the mantle of Quartermaster from his mentor. It was enough that Boothroyd gave him dominion over the cyber side of their department. He had his whole career ahead of him, plenty of time to take that next step up the ladder.

Of course, Silva had to come along and ruin it. 

Now, it was a reminder. Of the shoes he’d had to fill before he was ready, and of why he would keep on trying.


End file.
